Rumanian Jewish Democratic Committee to Launch Drive Against Influence of Zionism

A campaign to eliminate the influence of Zionism among Romanian Jews was proposed here at a conference of national leaders of the Jewish Democratic Committee of Rumania. The meeting was attended by delegates from all branches and groups within the Committee except left-wing Zionists and the Union of Rumanian Jews.

Bercu Feldmann, one of the top leaders of the Committee and a member of the Rumanian parliament representing the Jewish community, called on the Committee to “lead a merciless fight against Zionism.” He said this campaign should “result in the complete liquidation of the movement’s political influence in the Jewish life of this country.” Feldmann repeated charges contained in a recent resolution of the Rumanian Workers (Communist) Party that Zionist leaders within the Committee had “sabotaged” the rehabilitation of the Jewish population, and denounced the left-wing Zionists.

One of the most serious errors of the Committee was a “conciliatory attitude toward the Zionists,” Feldmann said. This resulted, in his opinion, from the fact that the Committee cooperated with all types of political groups in the fight against fascism, but failed to “enlighten the Jewish working population on the real character of this movement, giving Zionism a chance to become a mass movement.”

Commenting on the recent self-dissolution of the central Zionist body, Feldmann warned his listeners against full acceptance of the surface facts because “the enemies of the working class never give up their own position of their own free will.” He said that in the future more attention would be paid to vocational retraining of Rumanian Jewry and the inclusion of working class elements on the committee.